It can be so easy to look at what everyone else is doing and think that you need to do that as well! A mom friend and I were chatting about the pressure in the home-school world to listen to the “experts”. I have no problem with an influencer sharing what works for them, but lets be honest. Until you have a toddler or a teenager, you have no idea how you would handle it! Until you have a boy or a girl that is a non-traditional learner, you have no idea how to handle it. Until you have an adult child, you have no idea how to handle it. You might have some ideas, but you are by no means an expert!
If this sounds aggressive, I apologize. I want to make the caveat that we each go into parenting and home-schooling with a background and a set of beliefs. We have an idea of what we want it to look like or even what we think it should look like. But until you have actual in-person experience, you just have ideas!
I struggled with the thought of home-schooling for years. I love learning, but I also know that I am not naturally a teacher. I am a doer! If you want to learn how to make bread, I would love to have you come into my kitchen and watch me make bread. However, I do not naturally know how to break down the steps in a way to help you understand. I knew that I would not best the “best” teacher for my kids. However, I also came to the understanding, that there is no teacher on the planet that would love my children more than I love them! My qualifications to teach my kids come from God Himself because He gifted them to us. We can get so overwhelmed as parents listening to all the so-called “experts” and trying to keep up with all the advice on how to make our kids turn out a certain way. Parenting as a whole can feel like a minefield, trying to find your path but not knowing what is going to blow up in your face.
Look at your children, observe them, know their strengths and their struggles, and then ask God to guide your decisions and actions. And at that point, then look for some helps and tools. Rest in the assurance that God has created them the way they are for a purpose for His kingdom. There are no clones, just individuals made in the image of God! You can’t mess them up so much that He cannot redeem them. Actively learn how to best help your children, but whatever you do, don’t try to make them like someone else.